Self-sustainabilitythe lively, funny, strange new Hulu comedy produced by The Lonely Island and directed by New girl And Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-star Jake Johnson, has built a premise for action. A schlubby named Tommy (played by Johnson) is so depressed and disengaged with his life that he agrees to be part of an underground streaming reality show where he tries to avoid killers for a month. If he wins, he gets $1 million. If he loses, he dies.
That might sound a lot like a riff The most dangerous gameor at Stephen King’s The running man, where desperate victims try to avoid killers in search of stairs. But Self-sustainability is a much smaller, stranger and more emotionally driven film, focusing on human connection over big set pieces. Speaking to Polygon ahead of the film’s premiere, Johnson says he wasn’t looking to any of the obvious “people chased sports” classics for inspiration.
“Two films were an inspiration that I put together in my head, even though they are strange two to put together,” Johnson says. “I love Jacob’s ladder. I saw it as a child and have rewatched it many times. I love the performances, I love the look, I love the way it was shot. I love watching Tim Robbins go through the whole journey of trying to figure out what’s happening.
“And then I love (Wes Anderson’s) Bottle rocket: I love the comedic tone of it, the feel of it. I love how everything is deadly serious for Dignan (Owen Wilson’s character). I like that it’s a little sad. I love that he’s being harassed, but he’s still optimistic. I love that he’s a bit of an idiot, but he’s also a bit right. I love the love story in that; I think the love story with Luke Wilson and the maid is just right, and that’s all I need. So for me it was trying to make those two films into one thing. If there was one thing I was looking forward to, it was that Can I make it feel a little like how I feel when I look at all of these? What if I watched them at the same time?”
Image: Hulu
Johnson admits this is an odd double feature to turn into one life-or-death comedy film. “Even if I pitched it, I would say: You’re not wrong when you say it’s a weird mix,” he says. “It’s like adding spaghetti to sushi. But I think it tastes good together.”
Part of the point of making it Self-sustainability, Johnson’s feature film debut, was to make a film tailored precisely to his personal taste, a film that no one else could make. As he puts it, he generally has no intention of making the leap into directing. “I’m not just looking for a movie that I know is going to do pretty well with the critics and do pretty well with the fans, and that’s a pretty safe bet,” he said. “I wanted to make the movie I really wanted to see, because I might only make one of these movies.”
“For those who like it (…) when I hear what they like about it, I think: That’s what I like about it too! And for those who don’t like it, it is: Well, it’s just not your dish. It’s weird.”
While some actors making their own films may have similarly viewed the project as a way to craft exactly the character they most want to play, Johnson says he didn’t consider the opportunity to break into a new kind of role or return to the kind of role his fans expect.
“I didn’t think about it at all,” he says. “Really. I mean, it’s a good question, it’s the right question, but personally I don’t think about it. I just thought, What is the story I want to tell?“Part of that, he admits, is because he approaches his career as a writer first and doesn’t think of Tommy in relation to any other character he’s played.
Image: Hulu
“When I did that Stumptown and I was a bartender in that – I swear to God, I didn’t realize my character was a bartender, and so was Nick Miller (in New girl), until I pressed. (Interviewers are) like, What do you like about playing a bartender? And I’m like, Nothing? I don’t make drinks, it’s just a set. So there’s a whole part of the game that I just don’t think about, but I probably should. But it’s just not what excites me.”
Another thing that doesn’t excite him is the idea of making another movie with these characters. He is joked about the film ends with a cameo featuring his New girl co-star Lamorne Morris shows up to invite him into the Self Reliance Universe, Nick Fury style. (Morris doesn’t appear in the film, but did appear in a pretty hilarious promo for it.) But he says part of the fun of making exactly the movie he wanted to make is being able to continue story.
“I think it’s done,” he says. “I loved making this movie, and I love these characters, and I would love to work with these actors again, but I don’t want to rewatch this. What I like about TV: I like revisiting (characters). When you build (a story) that way, it’s just the best. And as an actor, I like playing the same character – I like playing Peter B. Parker (in the Spider-Verse movies). I love knowing that his story isn’t finished yet, and I don’t know what’s going to happen next. But if you look at (a project) as a one-off: the idea of writing another scene with Tommy? No. It is over.”
Self-sustainability now streaming on Netflix.